


Smoke

by transnygma



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: I don’t think it’s a canon divergence, Its really much inspired from In A Heartbeat (the animation) on Youtube, M/M, Mister Batman stay back or I will fight with a spoon, Post episode 12 fanfiction, Thats pretty much what happened after in Season 5 right?, [Oswald’s voice] THIS IS ALSO A FORK, yeah it’s something like a thousand words of building up but do I look like I care?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 19:45:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18817744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transnygma/pseuds/transnygma
Summary: Selina Kyle decided to throw a party at the Iceberg Lounge for her good friend Bruce Wayne, no matter what Oswald could think of it and it lead to come pretty cool revelations about their respective times in jail.





	Smoke

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah fuck the summary I’m bad at this, no tw for this but tell me if you’d like me to add one for blood? It’s just a mention but we could never know

_A cigarette again._ Little light appearing whenever he was inhaling the smoke.

His lights would have been so much better somewhere else than on this death stick but he couldn’t deny it, it made him attractive. Way too attractive. 

Selina decided out of nowhere that she would celebrate Bruce back in town at the Iceberg, and Oswald preferred having to pay off his what he owed with a party rather than a crime. 

Edward was only a silent spectator who found himself right in the middle of this terrible flirt-the-rich-boy moment, at least the music was nice. He was sitting at the bar, stopping anybody from taking too much alcohol by a very visible look on his gun whenever they were getting too confident of their superiority. Stupid creatures.

But his attention always seemed to come back to that man, sitting in _his_ corner of the room, nobody else was allowed. Except Edward of course, but he was rather busy with his functions, so he just stared from far away, internally counting how long it took the man to finish his cigarette. 

Selina found herself totally drunk by the third hour of party, probably from seeing Bruce with all of these ladies but she wouldn’t admit it, and found her way in a seat in front of Edward, ordering yet another drink.

“Cat, I know you are old enough for that, but maybe you should slow it down.”

The woman still remained fast and stole Edward’s gun to point it at him, asking again, forcing The Riddler to oblige. ‘No blood tonight, the floor is brand new.’ Oswald said at the beginning of the evening to everybody working. 

“You know what riddle guy? I can keep your bottles, go see your Romeo.”

Edward managed to get back his gun with all the precautions, and even if her idea was tempting, leaving Selina with bottles in front of this heterosexual Wayne show would definitively make the floor dirty with blood. He shook his head, pretending not to care about the little appellation.

“No, the party is almost over anyway, you said until 1. And it’s midnight.”

“Why do you always have to spoil all the fun Nygma?”

“This is not true I...”

Selina shook her hand, she had no will to hear Edward talk once again of his killing at the theatre during a prestation of Hamlet. It was 10 years ago. The woman finished her entire drink before leaving her seat, giving Edward all the time to finally get back to the count of Oswald’s inhalations. Terrible name but you get the idea.

The party finished after a fight between Selina and some lady Edward didn’t even know, and the public quickly left too after Bruce decided to drag her back to Wayne Manor before she decided to slit somebody’s throat or something like that. There was only the workers and Penguin left by half past twelve. 

The owner of the club walked to the bar, asking for a brief compte-rendu of how much money they lost for miss Kyle, and the loss was minimal thanks to Ed’s idea to cut half of the drinks with water or apple juice.

“You are a genius as always.”

Edward bowed down, starting to clean the bar as Penguin was sending everybody back home, saying that he would close the club. 

_Just us._

And yet another cigarette, smoke next to the window showing the entirety of Gotham’s most important places. A real advantage for Ed’s need to know everybody’s routine, from the kid running for his school bus to the business man getting into his car. But tonight, there was no plans to make, Jonathan was terrorising the whole town and if The Riddler decided to make an appearance now it would probably ruin his reputation. 

Edward joined Oswald at the window, handing him a glass of whisky to see his lips leave the death stick, but he still kept it in his mouth, eyebrows frowned in a concerned expression.

“Do you think letting them know you are here is a good idea? The GCPD is still looking for you.”

“As if they knew how to catch me without the help of their friendly bat guy.”

It wasn’t funny, but it still made both men laugh, the cigarette rolled on the ground and Edward pushed it away, in a move discreet enough to make Oswald think it just disappeared.

“Do you think they are ever going to stop that ridiculous feud and finally dare?”

“Selina and Bruce? Oh I don’t think so. He has 10 years to be forgiven for after all.”

Oswald noticed the disappearance of his cigarette, and looked around before giving up. He looked nice without smoke constantly coming out of his mouth like a dragon.

“I should’ve asked her to give you the letters earlier.”

Edward finished his glass and left it on the counter, crossing his arms on his chest. Oswald refused to tell him what was that deal with Selina about, but now he could easily guess, she was the reason they were able to establish some kind of communication between year seven and nine. The letters were still preciously conserved into his nightstand even if he had no need to read them anymore, he knew every single word by heart.

“But I thought...”

“What? That they would let me, a Blackgate prisoner, communicate with The Riddler? Gordon made sure I could never many times.” 

Edward looked back into the window, trying to find the caped crusader before he could find them first. Being tied to a piece of furniture was no fun.

“But Selina accepted, and in exchange I was regularly helping her to plan robberies, but after two years she found me to be of no use anymore and accepted that I write a last letter but she never gave it to you.”

The man’s attention shifted away from the desert streets of Gotham and found their way back to Oswald, who was looking at him for maybe the first time of the evening.

“It was a goodbye letter, explaining that our connection would end. It was meant to happen at some point, but I got awfully sad writing it, would you like to read it?”

The letter was already pointed at him before he could even think of if he wanted to swim back to that terrible time where he thought for so long that Oswald had forgotten about him. He even went to talk many times with Jeremiah Valeska about it. But he still took the letter, finding himself a seat at the bar before opening it, as Oswald was finding his cigarette and putting it back between his lips with no more ceremony. 

The letter was just an explanation, answering every question Edward asked himself between the four walls of his cell, every single day, hoping nothing wrong happened to Penguin. An accident or a murder was so quick to happen in jail, so he obviously jumped on this conclusion a month after his last letter. But the conclusion was a riddle, probably made for him. Oswald despised riddles, he probably asked somebody to do it for him, but the intention was still here.

_I am a feeling expressed by words. Truthfully told by few, lies from many. I can cause the greatest happiness, or the deepest sorrow. Yet one still comes back tomorrow. What am I ?_

It was a terrible riddle. But the answer quickly came to Edward’s brain, and when he looked up at Oswald, the man was crying. 

“I know you don’t like it Eddie. Don’t try to make me thing you do.”

“Oh I agree this might be the worst riddle I have ever heard of. And I had a person tell me a riddle about a clock once.”

Oswald laughed, wiping his tears away before they could make a mess of his mascara. He couldn’t allow himself such a thing.

“But I have to admit, this is still very nice.”

“Nice?”

Edward bit his lip, slipping the letter back in his enveloppe to keep his hand busy. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with this new information. Clearly it was enough if he ever wished to put those lips somewhere else than on the cigarette, but was he ready? With the new treat of the Batman, was he ready to let himself be vulnerable to somebody? Oswald always was a man following his heart, but Edward was fine enough with his brain. Except his brain was no help at the moment.

“The attention is nice. A riddle at the end of your goodbye letter?”

“Didn’t you get the answer? Was it really this bad?”

Oh no he had the answer, he had it after the first sentence, but he just was not sure about if he had the answer to his own question. Was he really in love with Oswald or was it just another stupid thing his brain focused on after finding himself taken away from any of this man’s affections. He could give it a shot for sure. But he was not sure if he wanted to realise there was nothing between them after letting Oswald believe of an happy ending. 

Kristen was his one true love, but Oswald’s was him. 

“I am confused by the last sentence, what comes back tomorrow? It could be plenty of things.”

Now he was playing the game of an imbecile, The Riddler had to pretend he couldn’t understand a riddle, a waste really.

“This sentence isn’t important. Focus on the first parts instead.”

“Do you remember that time you asked me to think with my heart instead of my brain?”

Oswald was vulnerable, he let himself be, and he knew he had to be careful in his choice of words before breaking what was left of his heart after his time in Blackgate.

“I don’t know how to do it. I am a rational, a logician, but you. You are a lover. You think with your heart and I can’t seem to understand how.”

If only he just left the room instead. If only he said he would read this letter later. If. If. If. If. What if he liked him? It’s true. He read so much about love before dating Kristen, and Oswald also filled all the criteria. 

“You seem to see in me something I can’t. What is it? What have I done?”

“Nothing. I just love you Edward.”

It all felt so wrong. He should’ve gone to kiss him but he couldn’t. His brain was yelling him to just walk away. But he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t walk away on his dearest friend after something like this, he owed him an explanation, he owed him a kiss. 

_A kiss?_

The inner battle inside Edward’s brain seemed to come to an end at the arrival of this thought. He _wants_ to kiss him. He wants to take those tears away and replace by whatever warmth he could give him.

“I have loved you for so long, my feelings have never been requited, and I should have sticked to that. But this is what the heart is about. Constantly pushing you back where your brain would never take you. My brain would’ve taken me far away from you after everything you’ve done, but my heart? My heart is yours and cannot seem to want to go away.”

Edward took the gun out of his pocket, sliding it away from his chest to avoid any accident. It was too late to get revenge. He already turned the page and burned the book, no he had a second chance. Back to when they were just chief of staff and mayor. Back to when they had it all. Back to those mornings spent together. Back to when it was all alright.

“I... My heart doesn’t know what to tell me.”

All hope was lost for Oswald. Edward was still the man who left him on their dinner night. He was still that man who fell in love with some white haired witch.

“What would your brain do?”

“Run away.”

“Maybe you should run then.”

Oswald’s cigarette was entirely consumed and he was already trying to find a new one, inspecting his pockets hastily. He had no desire in seeing Edward again tonight. He needed time. At least he was not head this time!

Before he could realise, Edward’s hand was pressed against his wrist, keeping it away from his cigarettes. 

“Do you know how much crap they put in this?”

“Oh don’t start sermoning me again.”

“They will kill you one day. And not the clean way.”

Oswald chuckled, head rolling until his eyes met Edward’s. Something was so cold in these. 

“I don’t care. I just know it makes me feel calm again.”

“Would a kiss make you calm too?”

This sentence made both men realise how close they were from each other, Edward’s chest was only an inch away from Oswald’s back, and their hands. They were still wrapped against each other in this silent struggle. None of them knew what to do. It would’ve been so easy to just kiss the pain of those ten years away, but has it ever been easy with The Riddler?

“I don’t want you to kiss me if it does not mean anything Edward. I want you to kiss me only if you want to. Only if your heart finally decides.”

It was all such grandiloquent talks, but Oswald wished for Edward to kiss him no matter if it had meaning or not, even if it was just for one night, he would be satisfied. He had been waiting for so long even the slightest lip brush would probably drive him mad. If only he knew how bad he wanted this.

“ _I am a feeling expressed by words. Truthfully told by few, lies from many. I can cause the greatest happiness, or the deepest sorrow. Yet one still comes back tomorrow. What am I ?_ ” Edward got closer before finishing his sentence. “It was love. It has always been love. All of my riddles for you were only love.”

It was too much for Oswald, he raised his hand to press the back of Ed’s neck, giving himself what he had been waiting for. He was expecting it to be only a second, maybe five for the shock, but it quickly turned into ten, twenty, until both of them were unable to count anymore, pressed against the window in a battle for the other to stay. 

It felt right. Kissing felt right. It was more of a fight than a kiss but who knows, both can get along when it’s about Penguin and Riddler.


End file.
